Belle Isle deal between Detroit, Michigan reportedly imminent

This aerial photo taken April 19, 2010 shows Belle Isle in Detroit. Detroit's popular Belle Isle park could end up having a cover charge under part of a state-supervised financial recovery plan. The agreement reached last week between city and state officials calls for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to lease and manage the Detroit River park. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Brian Kaufman)

DETROIT — Negotiations for a lease between the state and the city of Detroit over the control of Belle Isle appear to be nearing an agreement.

According to reports, officials negotiating a long-term lease agreement for the state to manage the city-owned island park have settled on a 30-year lease, perhaps with an option for the state to renew the lease and/or for the city to opt out after a certain time period.

The Detroit City Council could vote on the pact as early as this week.

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If the pact is indeed for 30 years, that’s 66 years less than the first lease agreement which was rejected by Detroit City Council earlier this summer.

Kwame Kenyatta, one of three Detroit City Council members who held a “Save Belle Isle” rally in protest of the lease negotiations, said at the time that 99 years was unacceptable.

““What is a 99-year lease? Come on, what is that? Ninety-nine years is a lifetime. A 99-year lease is ownership; that is control,” Kenyatta said then. When asked what length would be acceptable, Kenyatta refused to answer, saying the question was meant to trip him up.

According to reports, the 30-year lease agreement might also contain provisions that would allow the state to renew the agreement. Other council members also reportedly said they hope the agreement might also contain an opt-out clause for the city.

Ed Goldner, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, would not comment specifically on the reports.

“The negotiations between the state and the city of Detroit continue, and we are hopeful that we will reach an agreement soon,” Goldner said.

Goldner would confirm that the Keith Creagh, director of the DNR, would prefer for any such deal to be completed by the end of September. Oct. 1 begins the new fiscal year for the state agency.

The reason the state and the city are negotiating a lease agreement is because the city cannot afford the upkeep on Belle Isle. The state has offered to assume management of the island park. More specifically, while the city would maintain ownership, the Michigan DNR would take over control of the island and convert it into a state park.

The move was spelled out in the landmark Financial Stability Agreement between the State of Michigan and the City of Detroit.